Scribd
Upload
34 views8 pages

Land Use and Zoning: Wheaton CBD and Vicinity Sector Plan

The document discusses land use and zoning recommendations for Wheaton, Maryland. It proposes replacing the existing CBD zones with two new mixed-use zones, CR and CRN. The CR zones would allow a mix of residential and commercial uses at varying densities and heights to promote sustainable development. Taller buildings and greater densities would be focused around the Metro station and along major roads, with lower heights and densities near single-family neighborhoods. The zoning changes aim to encourage redevelopment of small properties and focus growth in Wheaton's downtown area.

Uploaded by

Planning Docs
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
34 views8 pages

Land Use and Zoning: Wheaton CBD and Vicinity Sector Plan

The document discusses land use and zoning recommendations for Wheaton, Maryland. It proposes replacing the existing CBD zones with two new mixed-use zones, CR and CRN. The CR zones would allow a mix of residential and commercial uses at varying densities and heights to promote sustainable development. Taller buildings and greater densities would be focused around the Metro station and along major roads, with lower heights and densities near single-family neighborhoods. The zoning changes aim to encourage redevelopment of small properties and focus growth in Wheaton's downtown area.

Uploaded by

Planning Docs
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 8

land use and zoning

Zoning recommendations are based on five goals. Encourage Class A office development at the Metro station. Allow for retail in the center of the CBD and along the three main roads. Increase housing mixed with some retail surrounding the center of the CBD. Place highest densities and building heights in the center of the CBD. Protect existing residential neighborhoods. Zoning Background Wheaton was designated as a CBD before the location of the Metro station. The 1978 Plan recommended rezoning the Wheaton CBD to the CBD-0.5, CBD-1, CBD-2, CBD-R1, and CBD-3 Zones. The CBD Zones were intended to provide a hierarchy of density and heights where the buildings were tallest in the center and tented downward to the surrounding, lower-scale neighborhoods. The 1990 Plan recommended a Retail Preservation Overlay Zone for a 35-acre portion of the CBD to prohibit optional method, large-scale redevelopment that might have a negative impact on smaller businesses. The Overlay Zone was applied to CBD-1, CBD-2, and CBD-3 zoned properties and limited development to standard method. The Overlay Zone, as originally approved, required site plan approval for any new buildings or additions, regardless of size. In 2006, the Overlay Zone was amended to eliminate the requirement for assemblage and to allow optional method development with some limits, among other changes. In 2009, a limited sector plan amendment expanded the CBD boundaries and rezoned properties on the east side of Georgia Avenue north of Blueridge Avenue to CBD-0.5 and CBD-1. It also removed the Overlay Zone from the frontage of the same block along Blueridge Avenue. Proposed Zoning The CBD Zones require a minimum land area of 18,000 square feet (except in the Wheaton Overlay Zone) and a lengthy approval process for optional method development (Project Plan and Site Plan review). Optional method development is costly and time-consuming for a small property owner. For a developer to be interested in assembling properties, there has to be enough market potential to justify the risk. Since the 1990 Plan, only 21,000 square feet of commercial space has been developed under the standard method in the Overlay Zone. Since the 2006 Overlay Zone amendment, no plans have been approved using optional method within the Overlay Zone. Wheatons only proposed optional method project is the 2010 mixed-use development on the existing Safeway site, which is outside the Overlay Zone.

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

33

This Plan recommends two context-sensitive mixed-use zones (CRN and CR) that permit a mix of residential and nonresidential uses with varying densities and heights. The zones promote economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable development patterns where people can live, work, play, and have access to services and amenities while minimizing the need for automobiles. The CR Zones do not require assemblage and can enable revitalization of small properties and businesses. They can also customize height and density requirements and provide the tenting effect essential to focusing a downtown. The CR Zones are easier for small properties (less than 10,000 square feet or 10 units) to use, because there is no minimum lot size required for the optional method. The Plan recommends removing the Overlay Zone and rezoning all the CBD Zones to CR Zones. The Plan also recommends rezoning other non-residentially zoned properties, some sites with multifamily zoning and a very small number of single-family zoned properties to CR or CRN Zones. In the CR Zones, additional density may be achieved through incentives that can be bundled to earn the maximum allowable density. The CRN Zone is a transitional zone appropriate for areas between high density developments and low-density, single-family residential uses. The CRN Zone permits a more limited mix of uses and less intense development where transitions must be provided to nearby neighborhoods. It allows development only under the standard method, and requires site plan review for development of certain limited uses and adjacent to a property in an applicable residential zone or separated from such zone by a primary, secondary, or tertiary street right-of-way; development greater than 10,000 square feet or a height greater than 40 feet; or development of 10 or more dwelling units. One of the chief benefits of site plan review in both the CRN Zone and the CR Zone is to ensure that development conforms to sector plan recommendations. Remove the Overlay Zone and replace the CBD Zones and some commercial and multifamily residential zones with CR Zones. Where existing residential development has been built under CBD zoning, the proposed CR Zones will approximate the existing zoning and allow an appropriate amount of mixed-use redevelopment.

34

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

Density and Building Height The density and height of buildings shape the built environment and define the skyline. The Plan places the greatest densities and heights at and near the Metro station in the center of downtown, along Georgia Avenue and Veirs Mill Road. The tallest development is recommended on the WMATA Triangle site at the convergence of Veirs Mill Road and Georgia Avenue, to encourage the development of an iconic building at the southern gateway to Wheaton. Taller buildings are also allowed at the two other important nodes in Wheaton: the intersections of University Boulevard West and Georgia Avenue, and of University Boulevard West and Veirs Mill Road, which serve as the northeast and northwest gateways to the downtown. The heights and densities decrease closer to the single-family residential communities surrounding Wheatons commercial areas and no change in zoning is recommended for the developed low-density stable residential communities that surround the more dense central areas. Density is measured as Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The greater the FAR, the higher the amount of maximum allowed development. But higher density doesnt always create taller buildings. A shorter, wider building may have more FAR than a taller, narrower building. The example below is for a 2.0 FAR building.

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

35

Map 11

Proposed Density: Maximum FAR

36

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

Map 12

Proposed Maximum Building Heights

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

37

Map 13

Existing Zoning

38

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

Map 14

Proposed Zoning

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

39

Map 15

Proposed CR Zoning

40

wheaton cbd and vicinity sector plan

Approved and Adopted

You might also like